Northern Trust Corp Acquires 875,254 Shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN)

Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN - Free Report) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,431,029 shares of the medical research company's stock after buying an additional 875,254 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.20% of Amgen worth $1,676,183,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of AMGN. Talbot Financial LLC grew its position in Amgen by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Talbot Financial LLC now owns 42,791 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,274 shares during the last quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 9.0% in the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 35,934 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 2,954 shares during the last quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $2,352,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Amgen by 6.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 635,172 shares of the medical research company's stock worth $204,659,000 after buying an additional 35,785 shares during the period. Finally, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its holdings in Amgen by 242.2% during the 4th quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $6,255,000 after buying an additional 16,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AMGN has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Amgen from $328.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Amgen in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set a "neutral" rating and a $305.00 price target for the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Amgen from $275.00 to $294.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Johnson Rice set a $294.00 target price on Amgen in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Amgen in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $310.57.

Amgen Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMGN traded down $7.14 during trading on Thursday, reaching $283.78. 2,940,076 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,789,661. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $253.30 and a 52-week high of $346.85. The stock has a market cap of $152.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $300.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.62, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The medical research company reported $4.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.18 by $0.72. Amgen had a return on equity of 176.32% and a net margin of 12.24%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.96 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 20.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.38 per share. This represents a $9.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Amgen's dividend payout ratio is currently 126.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 1,589 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.47, for a total transaction of $483,802.83. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,195,228.70. This represents a 18.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP David M. Reese sold 8,711 shares of Amgen stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $293.22, for a total value of $2,554,239.42. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 62,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,222,743.34. The trade was a 12.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 69,341 shares of company stock valued at $20,644,335 in the last 90 days. 0.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.